Thought for the Day

To understand verse 9, we must look back to Proverbs 2:1: "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee..." Today's verse rests upon this condition. If we receive and treasure God's words, then we can understand righteousness, judgment, and equity and know the right path in which to walk. Let us consider the words righteousness, judgment, and equity: The Biblical definition of righteousness is "to be in right standing with God." There is only one way for us to be in right standing with God - we must accept Jesus as our Savior, and repent of our sins and receive God's pardon for them through what Jesus did on the cross. The moment we yield our lives to Christ, we become righteous, we come into right standing with God. In God's sight, we are as pure as His own Son, Jesus. This is a gift of God, and has nothing to do with what we have or have not done. The only requirement to maintain this righteousness is staying in right relationship with Christ by faith. We are not saved by works, but by grace. Good works are the fruit of salvation, but do not attain eternal life for us.

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7, NIV).

Judgment, simply put, is a legal decree or sentence given by a judge. One day, God will judge every man by his deeds. Herein lies the most wonderful truth of Christianity. Anyone who accepts Jesus as Savior is judged to be righteous and will not be sentenced to hell, because the penalty for his sin was paid by Jesus. If we belong to God, we can boldly approach the Father through Jesus and ask for the things we need. We are accepted as righteous and our prayers are heard because of Him (Hebrews 4:16).

To practice equity means to be "fair, straight, or right." When we trust God and obey His commandments, we will reap good from what we sow. However, because there is evil in the world, we will endure injustices. Although we may not always be treated fairly in this life, we can be sure that God will see that we receive fair and just rewards in the world to come.